Las Vegas nets Pac-12 basketball tournaments after conference realignment

The Pac-12 is bringing the conference’s men’s and women’s basketball tournaments back to Las Vegas after the adding of new schools, including former Mountain West Conference members.

The Pac-12 basketball tournaments will be held at MGM Grand Garden Arena for at least the next two seasons, the conference announced Wednesday. The conference returns after what will be a three-year hiatus, amid the Pac-12 only featuring two universities, Washington State and Oregon State, over that time after the majority of their previous membership exited to Power 4 conferences.

“Bringing the next era of the Pac-12 and our basketball tournaments back to Las Vegas and the MGM Grand Garden Arena is a testament to the strength of our teams and brands,” Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould said in a statement. “With combined dates and new formats for both our men’s and women’s events, our rich basketball legacy meets transformation with exciting new energy.”

The return of the Pac-12’s basketball tournaments to Las Vegas comes after the addition of former Mountain West schools Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State as full-time members and college basketball powerhouse Gonzaga for basketball only starting this year.

The 2027 tournament is scheduled to occur March 9-13. With an uneven number of members, there will be a play-in game between the No. 8 and 9 seeds, with the No. 1 and 2 seeds receiving a double bye and not playing until the semifinals on March 12. The No. 3 and 4 seeds will receive a single-bye and first play in the quarterfinals.

The Pac-12 last played their conference basketball tournaments at T-Mobile Arena from 2017-24 and previously hosted the tournament at MGM Grand Garden Arena from 2013-16.

With the announcement of the Pac-12’s return, Southern Nevada will host five conference basketball tournaments in March. The Mountain West Conference tournaments will be held at the Thomas & Mack Center, the women’s Big Ten tournament at T-Mobile Arena, the Big West tournaments at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson and the West Coast Conference tournaments at The Orleans Arena.

The United Athletic Conference, formerly the Western Athletic Conference, said its college basketball tournaments will not be returning toThe Orleans Arena, where they have played since 2010. The new UAC is located mainly west of the Rocky Mountains except for two Utah schools.